posted
As some of you must already know, on February 25th an event commemorating the history and culture of sleeping car porters (especially Pullman porters proper) was held at Washington Union Station. It was put on by Amtrak and the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum of Chicago, with additional services by a publicity firm. The event received coverage in the February 26th Washington Post, the February 27th Baltimore Sun, the February 29th Christian Science Monitor, and the March 2nd Washington Times.
A key part of the event was the featuring of three special guests who had been chosen to supposedly represent the profession being honored: Thomas E. Dunn, 81, of Washington, D.C.; William H. Costen, 60 or 61, of Hartford, Connecticut; and E. Donald Hughes II, 53, of Elkridge, Maryland. Dunn worked as a Pullman dining car cook in the forties and perhaps later; Costen worked as a Union Pacific coach attendant (his title was "chair car porter", according to the Christian Science Monitor) from 1965 to 1968 or '69; and Hughes worked as a Southern Railway sleeping car porter from 1975 to 1978.
As you can see, only Hughes was ever an actual sleeping car porter; and none of the three was ever a Pullman porter proper. The press's absurd explanation for this deficiency, which they were presumably parroting from the event's planners, is that the era of sleeping car porters was so long ago that it's hard to find any of them alive any more. (The real reason, of course, is that the event's planners didn't look hard enough, plus they all seemed to be suffering from the delusion that Amtrak's changing of the job's name from "porter" to "attendant" caused it to become a different profession, so that people who've worked for Amtrak don't count.)
Needless to say, the four articles I've mentioned were largely concoctions of incorrect statements and recycled myths, and so I'm going to write a short Letter to the Editor in reaction to each one, pointing out its worst aspects. To write these letters, and possible longer letters to the articles' authors and their specific editors, I'd like to request some help from knowledgeable observers of the rail scene in answering several questions, which I'll list below. I'd appreciate it if you could restrict your postings to information you're sure of, or are almost sure of if you'll add a qualification to that effect.
The questions are:
(1) When would you say the job performance of Pullman porters started to slip? When would you say it deteriorated to the point that it would sometimes be openly hostile or otherwise really bad?
(2) What uniform would a Pullman dining car cook have worn in the mid to late forties?
(3) Am I correct that Pullman never employed any coach attendants? More specifically, would a UP coach attendant in the sixties unquestionably have been a UP employee? Also, was "chair car porter" the title used for that job?
(4) What uniform would a UP coach attendant have worn in the period from 1965 to 1969?
(5) What was the approximate per-car passenger capacity of the coaches used on UP's trains from Omaha to the West Coast in the mid to late sixties?
(6) What sort of uniform did sleeping car porters on the Southern Railway's Southern Crescent wear in the period 1975-78?
(7) When did Amtrak start to call its sleeping car porters "attendants"? When did it start to call the employees who take care of the coaches on overnight trains "attendants"?
(8) When did non-African-Americans and women first start working as sleeping car porters or attendants?
(9) Did any American railroad ever use actual silver flatware and actual silver water pitchers in its dining car service?
Thanks for all your help!
Posts: 86 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
1) When would you say the job performance of Pullman porters started to slip? When would you say it deteriorated to the point that it would sometimes be openly hostile or otherwise really bad?
I was 10 when I took a RT on UP City of Saint Louis (#9 and #10) in July 1967. I remember all the staff being friendly and helpful to a young 10 year old interested in trains. That included the diner crews, the lounge attendant (dome and 6100/6200 series), the Pullman Conductor and the various Porters (we were in a National series 6-4-6 car). (3) Am I correct that Pullman never employed any coach attendants? More specifically, would a UP coach attendant in the sixties unquestionably have been a UP employee? Also, was "chair car porter" the title used for that job?
Unquestionably a UP employee. I believe UP used the term chair car porter.
(4) What uniform would a UP coach attendant have worn in the period from 1965 to 1969?
There was a standard passenger car service uniform for UP, it applied for all from flagman to conductor. A chair porter would have had it. In car service, he wore navy pants, white shirt, probably a 4 in hand necktie (I can't remember, but lounge/diner service got bow ties I think) and a white service coat.
(5) What was the approximate per-car passenger capacity of the coaches used on UP's trains from Omaha to the West Coast in the mid to late sixties?
That's easy. 44 seats in a 5400 and up numbered coach. There were A FEW cars with 52 seats still on the roster, but not many. Dome coaches had 38 seats.
That's what I can help you with.
-------------------- The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Have you consulted "Rising from the Rails" by Larry Tye and other histories of the Pullman porters? Some of your questions might be answered there, and perhaps Mr. Tye is reachable through his publisher.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Regarding your first question, During the 50's and 60's I never had a poor Pullman Co. porter. They were always efficient, professional, and pleasant. This was true even with my last trip with a former Pullman porter on Amtrak's Floridian in the early 70's.
Not so with Amtrak porters/attendents. I have no idea why that distinguished title fell into disfavor. I remember porters telling me how proud his family was that he had a job with the Pullman Co.
While I have had some good sleeping car attendants on Amtrak, overall the quality of the sleeping car attendants is uneven at best. I think poor hiring practices, lack of training, and with little accountability on board are key reasons.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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